Una Mezcla...

So… I’ve been in Mexico a month today! I’m only in the city/with internet on Saturday and Sunday, hence the limited blogging. Some highlights of my last few weeks....

 Monte Alban- Last Sunday all of us on staff went to some sweet ruins right outside of Oaxaca. As Garrett Akol would say “Is that where Emperor Moctezuma bought his embroidered Mexican shoulder bag?”

Middle School Dances- I went with some of my volunteers to their town’s Secondary (Middle) School Graduation, and then later Graduation Dance. Unlike in the states, the entire community attended the dance. There was bad music, awkward dancing, and seizure inducing lighting. Some things are universal, I guess. 

Laundry right off the line- sometimes, when you let your volunteers borrow your rain jacket for a week, and they grab a few dry things off the laundry line as they're walking into the house, you find interesting things in your pockets.

Driving in Mexico- I have a theory about public transport in Latin America: The more saints and rosary beads you have in the front of your vehicle, the more dangerously you can drive. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to test this theory, as every camioneta/taxi/autobus seems to have an excessive amount of saintly paraphernalia, and drive excessively dangerously.

Jokes- for the last two weeks, I have been in charge of the “entertainment” section of the newsletter we give to all the volunteers. Being me, I decided that jokes in Spanish would be the best way to fill this section… I think I’ll save a few and post them in the coming weeks, but here’s a few for all you hispanohablantes out there-

1.      Que dice 18 a 2? Vente conmigo!

2.      En la sala de maternidad el jubiloso padre tomaba fotos de su bebé recién nacido. Le pregunta la enfermera:
- ¿Su primer hijo, señor?
- No, ya tengo cinco, ¡Mi primera cámara!

General life update… I spend four nights a week out in my communities with my volunteers. I basically follow whatever their plan is for the day- eat meals with the families they eat with, go to their project meetings, and their “campamentos,” or day camps that they run for local children. By the end of the week, being a nomad can be a bit tiring, but I really enjoy seeing my volunteers settling in and becoming comfortable in a new environment. Next weekend we get back from our routes on Friday afternoon, have a highly anticipated showing of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 at 5 PM, and then start our project midterm Saturday morning- meaning all fifty of our volunteers will be with us in the city for three days. Oh, and also, we will celebrate Lauren, one of our staff members, 21^st birthday- Amigos style (no alcohol). Anyway, with all the madness, I don’t know how much updating I will be able to do. Miss you all... I'll leave you with this...

fooooood

My update (for now) is that this week I ate chapulines... aka GRASSHOPPERS! I was sitting with one of my volunteers, Emelie, chatting with the woman whose house we were eating lunch at, when we noticed that a small plastic bag on the table seemed to be wiggling. Reason: it was full of live grasshoppers. We started discussing the common Oaxacan delicacy, and our host decided that she would cook them up so that we could try a few! Upon hearing this, we realized that one of us should eat one if she was going to cook up a whole batch on our account. We agreed that to embark upon our first grasshopper eating experience together. We took off the legs, as instructed, served them up with a bit of tortilla and hot salsa, and went for it! Upon reflection... it was just a little crunchy. I'd like, by the end of the summer, to be able to eat one with less of a tortilla and hot sauce security blanket. We'll see.

 

To continue on the food theme.... I have been enjoying most of my food here in Oaxaca, especially what I eat when I am out in communities with my volunteers. They all eat with different families in their towns everyday, so the families are usually pretty excited and try and make something special the one day the volunteers eat with them. I've been eating handmade tortillas at every meal, pan dulce, and... spaghetti. I have honestly eaten more meals of spaghetti than I have tacos. I've decided that one of my possible future careers is to open an actual authentic Mexican restaurant, and for breakfast I will serve spaghetti, salty cheese, and tortillas. To wash it down, a nice cup of warm whole milk and Nescafe... what better way to start off your day?

I'll try and write an actual update about my life/job here tomorrow night! If I don't get around to it, you can fill your time spent missing me this week cooking up grasshoppers and spaghetti tacos.

Here it is- my long awaited blog post. What to say? I’ve been here for two weeks, and I’ve done SO MUCH already it seems. So what exactly am I doing here? For those of you that don’t know, I’m a project supervisor for Amigos de las Americas, a program that I volunteered for in high school. I might or might not have copied this description from the Amigos website…

“Amigos de las Américas (AMIGOS) builds partnerships to empower young leaders, advance community development and strengthen multicultural understanding in the Americas.AMIGOS operates quality, youth-led programs throughout the Americas which improve the health and well-being of millions. Supported by a vigorous network of Pan-American chapters and partner agencies and a sound financial base, youth from diverse backgrounds and from throughout the Americas challenge themselves and expand their world view by participating in self-directed, meaningful service with communities different from their own.”

So there you go! Volunteers live with host families in small communities in groups of two or three per community. They spend their time in community running day camps about health and environmental topics for kids, and also collaborating with members of their town on a larger community improvement project. SO each partnership has a supervisor that comes by once a week to spend the night and make sure they’re doing ok, doing their projects well, etc. and that is ME! I travel between four communities every week and spend one night in each.

These last two weeks have been preparation for sending our volunteers out to community. I got here Saturday the 11^th, left to survey my communities on Wednesday the 15^th, got back to staff house in Oaxaca on Sunday the 19^th, and volunteers arrived this past Tuesday the 21^st! It’s been a total whirlwind I did some counting on Friday, and realized I had slept in 8 different places in the previous two weeks.

Ok. Maybe I will write more later. For now I will assuage you guys with this update and a picture or two if I can figure that out.